Lufthansa Cargo: What’s In The Aircraft?

Lufthansa Cargo had recently shared with me some interesting facts and figures about their operations that raised an eyebrow. Normally one looks at an airline cargo company as an expediter that transports goods from one location to another faster than virtually any other mode of transport. In most cases, this activity is usually measured in numbers: Tons Transported, Load Factors, Sales, Revenue etc.

“WHAT” is transported is usually not the critical piece as long as the numbers hit their goals. But in this case I am going to look into “WHAT” Lufthansa Cargo transports and I think you’ll come away a bit surprised at some of the contents that have enjoyed a ride on Lufthansa Cargo aircraft.

The following statistics (2011 data) highlight some of the more interesting and unusual contents transported by Lufthansa Cargo flights and by no way include everything that they transport each year:

80,000,000 tropical fish for the Aquarium industry.25,915 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables.20,000 tons of plants and flowers.14,000 Cats and Dogs.11,100 tons of seafood.3,500 tons of fresh meat.2000 Horses (Hundreds are polo horses from South America).1200 tons of Roses for Valentine’s Day.300 tons of Worms (Bait for the European angler industry).6 Hippoptamuses.2 Leopards.1 Giraffe.

And by far the single most important piece of cargo:

4 life saving organs per day. Which translates into potentially 1460 lives being saved each year thanks to Lufthansa Cargo.

As you can see by this list, Lufthansa has a penchant and is a specialist in transporting Animals. To that extent they have a dedicated Animal Lounge that is designed to ensure the safe and humane transit of livestock. To learn more about the “Animal Lounge” please read my previous story on the facility.

To learn more about Lufthansa Cargo and its storied 100 year history from it’s earliest days to it’s latest accomplishments, please take a few minutes to watch this video that was created to mark their 100 year milestone:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZUoHUbFiUg[/youtube]

Special thanks to Michael Göntgens, Head of PR & Internal Communications for Lufthansa Cargo AG for providing some of this eye opening and interesting information.